I Have No Skull and I Must Scream

I Have No Skull and I Must Scream

The screaming is always there for Maras. No matter what he does it doesn't go away. Sometimes it's at the back of his brain quietly like a dull headache radiating outward from the base of his skull, while other times it's up front and central like being in front of speakers at a loud rock concert. No matter how quiet or loud the screaming is, it's just there. Some days it's just what it sounds like: screaming, but other days the voice talks to him and tries to goad him into doing terrible things. "Drown your cat, you piece of shit," the voice will say. "Bring a gun to work and kill all your coworkers then yourself" the voice will instruct. Most of the time Maras can pass those ideas off as stress from work or from his cat that pisses everywhere, but other times he simply can't ignore the voice's instructions; like the time the voice told him to stick his hand in a boiling pot of water because nothing bad would happen if he did. Several surgeries and years later he has regained most of the function in his right hand, but it serves as a constant reminder to him of why he should ignore the voice's instructions. The thought of being insane had crosses Maras' mind several times and he visited several therapists to try and figure out what the cause of the screaming was, but to his dismay they only prescribed medications and regular visits to talk with them about the stresses and problems he was having in his life. "From your outward appearance," one therapist said, "you seem to be a healthy man who takes great care of himself, but that doesn't mean that you are healthy on the inside, in your mind I mean. Which is why I have prescribed some Thorazine for you. It will help to take the edge off your stress and relax you a bit. Within no time you'll forget you ever had any problems." "Great," Maras would think, "just load me up on drugs and turn me into a zombie," to which the voice would offer a rebuttal, "You don't need to fill yourself full of medication, you need to fill yourself full of bullets because you're fucking insane. Do it. Kill yourself. Get it over with already." "I just might," Maras thought, "I just might." One day he just couldn't take the screaming anymore and walked down to the local sports store and bought himself a brand new shotgun. When he got back home he laid out all his important possesions in front of him like he was offering sacrifices to a long dead god. Shaking he loaded two rounds into the shotgun and aimed it as his chin. He pulled the trigger and in an explosion of skull, brain, and tissue Maras was no more. A neighbor who happened to be walking past the house heard what appeared to be a gun firing and called 911. Several minutes later police, fireman, and paramedics showed up to his front door. They tried calling into the house to see if anyone was there and when no one answered the opened the front door and rushed in. The first to stumble upon the body was the paramedic who took one look at the remains and fainted. The cop was next to see it and screamed, "Oh god," for there among the pieces of skull, brain, and various other tissues laid another much smaller skull like that of a barely formed fetus.

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Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
Derek Lang

Kayresia A. Bass:
Again, the author has amazed me. Very good story right from the beginning. As the story begins, curiosity keeps you reading just to find out what is going to happen next. Gabriel is an average guy who finds out later he is not so average. He meets and falls in love with a woman named Tanya. I lov...

Kayresia A. Bass:
Loved it. Author did some insane research to bring this story to life. A little short for my taste, but an awesome story nonetheless. A few missing periods, and a few missing ending quotation marks, but not enough to take away from the story.Keep going. Add more detail to your future stories and ...

harry142018:
This story was gripping and very professionally written. With lots of twists and slight of hand tricks, the author deceives the reader until finally showing their cards at the end. With several subplots all intertwining to create the main plot, this really is an interesting and engaging read.

Sarah_M_G:
This story was truly gripping from start to finish. The way the author used Scottish dialect throughout the novel really helped to put you in he in the place where it was all happening. Every character was well described and thought out. How they all fitted together really worked and loved how t...

Shantell Murphy:
I absolutely love this . I have not read a book by my choice since first grade I am in 9th grade now and I love this book . its suspense is really good . it's alot of foreshadowing witch is cool . it gives a thrill and excitement to the book .

Deleted User:
What a story. It may be short and small but it is mighty and massive in creativity. However, I did not feel any romance in the story rather than a lot of horror. It was a great read and I cannot wait to see what this author has next on the agenda. Sometimes short stories have the best content and...

Deleted User:
This is a very clever story in the style of 19th century (and turn of the century) Gothic writing, very reminiscent of Stevenson's The Body Snatchers or even of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (less so of Frankenstein itself, since the author is more minimalist than Shelley's florid, Romantic rhetoric). ...

Pam Lobato Ceja:
The plot is interesting although for me the ending feels a bit rushed, since a lot happens in very few pages. I did notice a few grammar mistakes here & there, but nothing too noticeable.Overall, I enjoyed this greatly.

danijelstoilkovic:
I really like this story. The characters, the mysteries, that bonding in the end, but I would really like to see what happened next. Is there a second part? And this would really be one cool horror movie and if I was the director, I wouldn't change a thing.It's awesome!

Deleted User:
I loved this story. It was so great that I did not expect it to be this awesome. I swear to you this deserves more than just 5 stars. Beyond amazing. Kept me wanting more and I felt exactly like Emma felt while reading. Although in the beginning I did not expect anything to happen. Then, when som...

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